The Aquarium
by tsuki-llama
Summary: "Distractions" installment #7. Relocated from "Distracting Drabbles". Kanami takes her nephew out for a day at the aquarium, where they run into some old friends who are not there to look at the fish...


**AN:** This one-shot was originally published in _Distracting Drabbles_ ; I have since decided to make it official canon for the _Distractions_ series, so I'm pulling it out to live on its own. It takes place within the _Lost in Translation_ storyline, not long after Kanami has realized that "Li" is actually BK-201. _  
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Hei paced slowly along the back wall of the exhibit room, where the shadows were the deepest. From time to time he would stop and gaze ahead, so that it would appear as if he was watching the dozens of massive fish - tuna, according to the display - as they emerged from the blue depths to drift lazily along the curved glass wall of the room-sized tank.

The place was crowded with tourists, all dark silhouettes pressed up against the backlit glass or standing on their toes, phones raised above their heads to capture photos that they would never look at after today. Hei didn't understand what was so fascinating; it was just fish.

The blue light from the tank as it glittered across the fishes' scales reminded him uncomfortably of synchrotron radiation. Then a slightly brighter sparkle on the tip of a razor-like tail caught his eye, and he tensed; the light winked out suddenly only to reappear again, this time floating up with a stream of shining air bubbles before it vanished again.

 _Yin_.

"I see him," her voice sounded softly in his earpiece a moment later. "He's entering the exhibit now. I don't see anything that looks like backup."

Hei angled his body slightly so that he had a better view of the tuna room's entrance. A short man in khakis and a Hawaiian shirt crossed the threshold just behind a family of four, close enough that he could be mistaken for one of their party; but Hei could tell from the way his gaze focused on everything _except_ the glass wall that this was his contact.

As expected, the man detached himself from his pretend family to skirt the outer edges of the room. Hei approached slowly until they were standing side by side.

"Majestic creatures," Hei said quietly.

The man nodded once. "It's a pity they've been so overfished. But it's not like they notice; they are cold-blooded, after all."

"Aren't we all," Hei replied, completing the ridiculous identification code. He didn't think he'd ever used the word _majestic_ willingly in his life.

"Good," the man said. He withdrew a small vial from his shirt pocket; the light from the aquarium tank reflected faintly off the glass and the liquid inside. "I have the item; you have my payment?"

Hei reached into his back pocket and pulled out a thick envelope. Keeping one hand free in case his contact tried anything, he held out the cash.

At the same time, the other man carefully proffered his glass vial - then snatched it back and whipped his head towards the tank. Hei tensed for an attack and flicked his gaze in the same direction. He started when he saw what had captured the contractor's attention: a specter - then two, then three - flitting along the scales of a fish, riding the tail of another, slipping along in the wake left by their sharp tail fins.

Hei couldn't take his eyes away from the display, until the other man snapped, "You said you would come alone; what kind of set up is this? The deal's off!"

"It's just a doll," Hei began, but the contractor was already shouldering his way through the crowd towards the exit, taking his vial with him. _Shit_. Hei darted after him, only to nearly trip over a large stroller as a woman stepped out in front of his path. He extricated himself as politely as he could manage, not taking his eyes off the other man until he disappeared from view through the far door.

"Yin, stay on him!" Hei muttered urgently into his mic. Inwardly fuming at the Syndicate's insistence that he bring Yin with him and her sudden inability to keep herself hidden, Hei followed his contact.

~~~~o~~~~

"What about this one?"

Kanami checked the price tag on the plush blue octopus. "Three thousand yen," she said. "I thought I gave you a limit of two thousand?"

"I know, but look, it has eight arms and they're blue and purple!" Hiroshi wiggled the tentacles at her in order to prove his point.

"It _does_ have a lot of arms," Kanami agreed. "But don't you want something that lights up, or - what about this?" She picked up a plastic shark off the shelf and pushed the button on its back. Its tail thrashed and its jaws snapped open and closed in time to a tinny version of the _Jaws_ theme. Yume would kill her; but what were aunts for, if not to provide their nephews with obnoxious toys?

Hiroshi shook his head. "I want this one."

"Well…"

He squeezed the stuffed cephalopod to his chest and gazed up at her with wide eyes. " _Pleeeease?_ "

Kanami grinned. "Okay. Blue octopus it is!"

The little boy whooped with joy and hugged her waist in thanks. She ruffled his hair. "Okay, okay - why don't you go watch the penguins some more while I pay for this."

 _Hugs at a bargain price_ , she thought to herself as she made handed her card to the gift shop's cashier. She'd been fully prepared to spend five thousand yen on a souvenir, but Hiroshi didn't need to know that. Haggling was an essential skill in life, one that was best learned early. His first choice had been the 4D model of a whale; though the price had definitely been out of her budget for this trip, his disappointment had already secured its place on her birthday list.

Octopus bought, Kanami exited the shop into the atrium of the aquarium's main lobby and scanned the bustling area for her nephew. With a worried start she realized that he was nowhere near the penguin exhibit. But before she could start to panic, she spotted him by a decorative fountain. Reaching his _hand_ up to his _elbow_ in the decorative fountain.

"Seriously?" she muttered to herself with a sigh, and strode over. There was a young woman sitting on the fountain's edge, also trailing her hand in the water; he'd probably gotten the idea from -

Kanami stopped in her tracks when she recognized the girl's distinctive pale, silver hair. _No way._

She started walking again, slower this time. There was no sign that anyone was there with Yin, but Kanami couldn't imagine that they'd just left her on her own. Hiroshi, meanwhile, had pulled his hand out of the water and was showing whatever he'd found to the doll. Yin angled her head towards the boy, but didn't respond.

"There you are, kiddo," Kanami announced when she reached them.

Hiroshi immediately shifted his attention to her. "Aunt Kanami, look what I found!"

"Coins," she said, obediently gazing at the money in his watery open palm.

"Is it enough for the see-through whale?"

"Not even close."

The boy frowned. Kanami could practically see the wheels turning in his head; and sure enough, after a moment's thought he stuffed the dripping change into his pocket and leaned over the fountain again.

Kanami seated herself between Yin and Hiroshi, settling the plushie on her lap. "Don't fall in - your mother will have a fit."

"I won't!"

Ignoring the judgmental looks that the other mothers in the lobby were casting her and Hiroshi, Kanami said quietly, "Hi, Yin. It's good to see you again."

The doll nodded slightly, and traced a swirling pattern in the water. "Chief Ishizaki."

"Call me Kanami, please," she smiled. "You aren't here alone, are you - is Li here?"

"Yes. We're working."

Working. Fantastic. Well, it was a busy Saturday afternoon in a public business; whatever the Black Reaper was up to, it probably wasn't too dangerous for bystanders. "That's too bad. I thought maybe you'd got the day off, or something."

"Day off?"

"You know - a day when you don't have to work, and can just have fun." What was fun for a doll, though? Kanami didn't doubt that the more evolved mediums could feel emotion, but 'fun' was probably on another level altogether. It was clear that her Eunice enjoyed her monthly trips to the park, but sitting with your feet in the grass wasn't exactly a hobby.

"I see," Yin said. "I listen to the books my friend brings me when I don't have to work. But coming here was nice."

 _Friend?_ Kanami thought, intrigued. "What do you like about the aquarium?"

The doll paused in thought, continuing the trail of her hand the water. "Fish. They move so fast. And the colors."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hiroshi pitch forward; she caught the back of his shirt and hauled him back before he hit the water. "But you can look into the aquarium from anywhere, right?"

"Yes. But here the water is the same. It's different."

Before Kanami could ask her what she meant, a figure had stepped up to the doll and yanked her hand out of the water.

"What are you _doing_?" Li practically growled in an urgent whisper.

"Don't snap at her!" Kanami protested. "I'm the one who came over and started talking." And just _talking_ shouldn't be a problem - he was the one who introduced her to Yin in the first place, after all.

"Not you. Her specter." Li took a deep breath and sat down on Yin's other side. He was still holding her wrist, but Kanami was relieved to see that his grip wasn't tight at all.

"What's wrong with her specter?"

"Nothing. It - she…" Li looked down at Yin's hand with a worried frown, and let go. Yin placed both her hands in her lap demurely. Then Li glanced up at Kanami, brow wrinkled. "What are you doing here?"

" _Not_ participating in some sort of illegal activity," Kanami said, raising one eyebrow. "I'm spending the day with my nephew." She gestured to Hiroshi, who had paused in his pursuit of sunken treasure at the stranger's arrival. "This is Hiroshi - Hiroshi, meet Mr. Li."

Hiroshi gave a quick, polite bow, then thrust his hand out towards Li. "Look what I found!"

Li gazed down at the dripping coins. "Um…money?"

"Yep! I'm going to save it to buy a see-through whale."

A confused expression crossed Li's face, but he quickly replaced it with one of mock worry. "Careful - that looks like pirates' gold. They might come looking for it later."

Hiroshi's eyes widened. Then he stuffed the coins into his pocket, grinned, and grabbed the stuffed toy from Kanami's lap. "If they try they'd better watch out, or the giant octopus will eat them!"

"That's pretty scary. What's his name?"

"Feetie."

"But he doesn't have any feet."

"Of course not, he's an octopus! An octopus with feet would be stupid 'cause they don't walk, they swim."

"What about people? We swim with our feet."

Hiroshi chewed on his lip for a moment, then replied, "Yeah, but octopuses need tentacles so they can use their suckers to climb up rocks and walls and things."

"That's true. I'd like to be able to climb up rocks and walls that easily."

"Yeah! Then we could go all the way up to the top of Tokyo Tower like Mothra and knock down airplanes!"

Li blinked. "Uh…who's Mothra?"

Kanami joined her nephew in gaping at the nonplussed Li. "How have you never seen _Mothra_?" she asked, aghast.

" _Mothra_ ," Yin said. "A nineteen sixty-one film by Honda Ishiro, based on the story _The Luminous Fairies and Mothra_ by Fukunago Takehiko."

"Exactly - thank you, Yin. Li, I have Honda's entire collection. I'll give it to Misaki so you can get caught up. But Hiroshi, I think you're a little confused, kiddo. It was King Kong who swatted down airplanes, not Mothra. Mothra doesn't have hands - at least, not while he's a larva."

"I grew up in China…" Li muttered.

Hiroshi, on the other hand, protested, "Yeah, but if _I_ had suckers on my hands, I would use them to climb towers and knock down airplanes."

Kanami grinned. "Can't argue with six-year-old logic."

"Aunt Kanami, can we go see the ocean now? Maybe there will be real octopuses!"

"Sure, we've got some time before I need to get you back home." She looked at Yin. "You guys want to come too?"

Li's expression immediately closed off. "No; we need to leave. Come on, Yin."

He stood and held out his hand. The doll, however, didn't move to take it. "I've never seen the ocean," she said softly.

"You can see it any time you want. Let's go."

The wistful look on Yin's face nearly broke Kanami's heart. "Li, she means she's never touched it - come on, it's right outside the door. You can spare fifteen minutes, can't you?"

Li looked down at Yin, who was looking down at the fountain with something like longing. He followed her gaze, and sighed. "Alright. Just for a little while."

~~~~o~~~~

The aquarium had been built on a small peninsula in Tokyo Bay. There wasn't a proper beach - just a wide concrete walkway with a stone-covered slope leading down to the water's edge. But it was better than nothing.

A flock of seagulls squawked after them as Kanami led the party across the walkway, but they departed when it became clear that no one had brought any food. Kanami tucked Feetie under her arm and helped Hiroshi down the slope to where the calm bay water lapped gently at the round stones; behind her, Li was guiding Yin.

"Shoes off," she ordered once they reached the bottom. Hiroshi quickly tore off his shoes and socks and splashed into the water. "Cold!" he squealed happily, and immediately began sloshing in the quiet waves.

With Li's arm holding her steady on the slick rocks, Yin carefully slipped her shoes off and stepped delicately into the bay. If she felt the cold, she didn't show it; she seated herself on a flat stone and stared out into the horizon. Li stuffed his hands into his pockets and began pacing along the shoreline. Hiroshi was exploring in the same general direction, so Kanami tagged along with the contractor.

"So what were you so upset about earlier?" she asked quietly, once they were a little ways from Yin.

Li hesitated, gazing out across the bay. "I was meeting with another contractor," he said at last. "Yin was supposed to stay out of sight and look for signs that he'd brought backup; she's better than most dolls at being inconspicuous. But today, she - I don't know. It was like she was _playing_ with her specter. Sending it all over the tanks, jumping in and out of plain sight, splitting it into several little ones; I've never seen anything like it," he said, an almost wondrous tone in his voice. Then he continued more bitterly, "The contractor saw it and took off. I had to - it almost blew the mission."

Kanami had never heard anything like that before. "She split her specters?" she asked incredulously. "I didn't think that was possible."

Li just shrugged, and turned to walk back the way they'd come.

Yin was still sitting motionless on the same stone, while Hiroshi scrambled around with his hands in the water. Li stopped beside the doll. It was hard to tell, but Kanami thought that she seemed…fascinated.

"How far can you see?" Li asked quietly.

"…It feels like forever."

The contractor stood silently for a long minute, then said, "Yin, you understand that you can't do that, right? Especially if there might be another contractor around."

"Yes. I'm sorry, Hei."

"I'm not angry. Just…you have to be careful."

Just then a large splash interrupted the moment, drenching Kanami's designer jeans. "Hiroshi, what are you _doing_?" she demanded at the sight of her nephew on his hands and knees in the muddy water.

The boy pushed himself up awkwardly, his clothes soaking wet. "Trying to catch crabs - but they're too fast."

Kanami opened her mouth to insist that the outing was now officially over; but to her surprise, before she could say anything Li had stepped into the bay beside Hiroshi.

"If you're not faster than they are, that just means that you have to be smarter," he said, crouching down and leaning out over the water. "Don't move."

Hiroshi watched in rapt attention as Li stared intently into the sand just below the water's surface. "Yin, do you see any?"

"To your right," the doll replied immediately. "Six inches."

Li nodded once, then pointed. "Do you see it?" he asked Hiroshi.

"Where…oh, there it is!"

"Don't move," Li warned again. Kanami craned her neck to get a better view; after a moment she spotted the dull brown shell that only stood out against the dull brown sand by its curving shape.

Li slowly lowered one hand to the left of the shell, so slowly that Kanami doubted that he'd disturbed the water at all. "Ready?" he asked.

Hiroshi nodded, wide-eyed. Then with lightning speed, Li dropped his right hand on the other side of the crab. The startled creature darted away - directly into Li's waiting grasp. Li lifted his left hand and opened his palm to reveal a stunned hermit crab, its little legs curled protectively into its shell.

"Wow! Can I hold it?" Hiroshi asked eagerly. Li tipped the crustacean into his cupped hands, while Kanami covertly snapped a few photos with her phone to give to Yume. She managed to get one with Li in the frame; Misaki might appreciate it. "Aunt Kanami, look!"

"I see it," she smiled. "And no, you can't keep him. You should probably put him back before one of these seagulls decides to make him a snack," she added, casting an eye on the half-dozen birds that were wheeling closer by the second.

One of the gulls broke off from the others and skimmed over the waves to hover in front of Li for a long moment, before squawking and soaring off in the direction of the aquarium. Li watched the bird go with a hard look in his eye. Approaching sirens sounded in the distance.

"Yin, time to leave," he said shortly. The doll didn't protest; she rose gracefully from her seat and slipped her shoes back on.

Kanami didn't miss the slightly guilty look on Li's face; that, coupled with the sirens, told her that trying to convince him to let Yin stay longer was not going to work. "It was good seeing you guys," she said.

Li gave a noncommittal shrug, then took Yin's hand and began to help her back up the slope. His sneakers sloshed with every step, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Bye!" Hiroshi called after them. "Thanks for helping me catch a crab!"

The contractor turned back and smiled briefly. "Maybe we'll come back to the ocean again sometime." He squeezed Yin's hand; then they continued back towards the aquarium.

"Come on, kiddo, it's getting late," Kanami said. "I promised your mom you'd be home by dinner time."

"Aw," Hiroshi complained. He dropped his crab back into the water and stood up; Kanami ran her eye over his sandy, disheveled appearance with dismay.

"Your mother is going to kill me."


End file.
